Meetings Ahead
Some meetings in Provincetown are in person, some are online, and some are both. Click on the meeting you want to attend on the calendar at provincetown-ma.gov for a link to an agenda and details.
Thursday, Aug. 11
- Board of Assessors, 10:30 a.m., Town Hall
- Water & Sewer Board, 2 p.m., Veterans Memorial Community Center
- Public Pier Corp. Board, 5 p.m., Town Hall
- Planning Board, 6 p.m., Town Hall
- Year-Round Rental Housing Trust, 6 p.m., Town Hall
Wednesday, Aug. 17
- Cemetery Commission, 3 p.m.
Thursday, Aug. 18
- Zoning Board of Appeals, 6 p.m., Town Hall
Conversation Starters
Motorized Scooters Going One-Way
Storm Scooters swooped into town in June, but it’s been a bumpy regulatory ride ever since.
The company, owned by Chris Siar and Karen Peloquin, rents out electric scooters that can be dropped at the end of a ride and re-rented from any location with an app on a smartphone. At first, their business zoomed through town licensing.
But the town officials began to have second thoughts. Town Manager Alex Morse told the select board this week that there have been very few accidents caused by rentable scooters this summer. Nonetheless, he said, electric scooters must follow the state regulations governing any motor vehicle. That means they must follow the one-way rule on Commercial Street.
Morse said the police dept.’s community service officers, who handle traffic flow, will now enforce the rule.
Siar told the Independent he was not invited to the Aug. 8 meeting. He called the town’s understanding of how the rules apply to his business a “mess.”
Siar sees e-scooters as a cross between a taxi service and a ride-share service. Local rules state he must operate the business on private property and cannot make transactions on public land. This presents problems because the payment takes place at the end of the ride.
“I would call it an unmanned taxi,” he said, “and all taxis are allowed to take money on public land.”
He has programmed the scooters to end at 80 dropoff locations, including hotels, other private businesses, and bike racks, he said. Bike racks are on public land. “I just refuse to not be allowed to use a bike rack,” he said.
He also programmed the scooters to go no more than 10 miles an hour between Pepe’s Wharf at 371 Commercial St. and the Canteen at 225 Commercial St.
Siar said he is working on programming them to operate only one way on Commercial Street. It will take about a year to do, he said. —K.C. Myers
